1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of remote control equipments, and more particularly to a simple-structured multifunctional network power control module installed between mains electricity and an electronic device to allow users to control the operation of the electronic device and the operation status timely.
2. Description of the Related Art
To facilitate users to use a home electric appliance such as air conditioner, television and stereo, a dedicated remote control is bundled or a universal remote control device compatible to the electric appliances is provided for users to operate the electric appliance via wireless transmission. However, the remote control has a limited using distance, and the universal remote control has the drawbacks of complicated setup and little control functions, and thus the practicality is limited. As the communication technology advances, information appliances integrated with a communication function are introduced to the market continuously and provided for users to operate the electric appliances at a remote end via network or telephone in order to overcome the aforementioned problems. In general, the information appliances of this sort have built-in controller and communication device, and the controller uses the communication device to link to the Internet after connecting to a router at home via a cable or wireless network. In the meantime, a control program is installed into an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a tablet PC or a PDA and provided for the users to access the controller via the Internet to operate the electric appliances and monitor the operating status from a remote end, so as to facilitate the users to turn on a lamp to improve home security or a washing machine or rice cooker to expedite household management before arriving home, and also facilitate the users to turn off a power supply to prevent fire accident and save power after leaving home.
However, a corresponding updated management program must be installed in the electronic device in the aforementioned management system, when the users want to control a new model of electric appliance. There are various models and manufacturers of the information appliances, so that if each management program just allows its use for a particular model of the electric appliance or a particular manufacturer, a complicated pre-installation operation will be required, and these programs are unfavorable for management and use, so that the users' willingness of use will be reduced, and the consumer satisfaction will be lowered.
In view of the aforementioned problems, it is a main subject of the present invention to integrate the controller and the communication device into a control module to be installed into any information appliance by the users in order to have a consistent management capability for various electric appliances and improve the convenience of the management and the practical use of the electric appliance.